Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

I guess I'm on a roll for desserts. I've made this before and thought it was in my recipe folder, but it must have been before my time at The Times.

Thank you for those who give me feedback on my recipes. Katheryn sent me a note on the Pecan Sandies and said she eliminated the nuts and used all butter instead of part oil and part butter and they turned out delicious.

This one I did all sorts of things wrong but it still turned out great. I read the ingredients for the topping and put it together, as I didn't need the directions. Then I started putting the ingredients together, thinking they were talking about the cake. I put the flour, sugar, and butter in a bowl. THEN, thinking for a cake that was odd. Yep, the butter needed to be blended with the sugar, and part of the sugar was supposed to be tossed with the rhubarb, so I had to fish out the butter, try to separate as much of the sugar and flour as I could, then start over. Sometimes I amuse or amaze myself.

The recipe calls for a nine-inch pan. If you have one of those truly two inch deep, no edge nine inch pans, it will work. My round nine inch pan has edges and is not quite two inches deep, therefore the cake baked onto the edges making it harder to get out of the pan. I do have a nine inch square pan that is deeper I wish I would have used, or a smaller oblong pan.

Plus, read the directions for the cake before putting it together, as the butter and sugar get divided.

INGREDIENTS:

Topping:

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

½ c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. sugar

Stir together butter, flour, sugar, and ¼ tsp salt until moist and crumbly.

Cake:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter,(divided) room temperature

2 large eggs, plus more for buttering pan

1 ¾ c. sugar (divided)

1 c. sour cream

1 ½ c. flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

Coarse salt

½ tsp finely grated orange zest plus 1 Tbsp fresh orange juice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the topping, set aside. Butter a nine-inch round pan (see note above). Dot with four tablespoons (half stick) butter cut into pieces. Toss rhubarb with ¾ cup of sugar, let stand for two minutes. Toss again and spread in pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Beat remaining stick of butter and cup of sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in zest and juice. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream until smooth. Spread evenly over rhubarb. Crumble topping evenly over batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and top springs back when touched – about an hour. Let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of cake and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Cook's note-Martha Stewart: Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. The rhubarb will be too hot to handle safely right after baking, but if the cake sits too much longer, it may stick.

Variations:--Martha doubled the amount of crumb topping and used one teaspoon finely grated lemon zest and one tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice instead of the orange zest and juice.

MY NOTES: I put in four cups of rhubarb, which also made the cake dough higher in the pan. I also doubled the topping as suggested, but couldn't use it all as I ran of room. I didn't have either the orange or lemon zest and/or juice so added a teaspoon of vanilla.

It is a delicious cake, and even with all my goofs it was great.

ENJOY!